I have received a piece of some very old Maple, my friend said it is from his parents house that was built sometime in the 1860's, so this wood is roughly 150yrs old

He told me it is some type of wood you can no longer find (around here?) I really know nothing about it, but apparently his brother made some furniture with it and the grain is stunning.

What are the basic things to know/remember when doing this sort of stuff with wood? what tools do I need? I am assuming most people use a dremel for a fair bit of the forming process? What sort of bits do you use? at what RPM?

The pistol grip will be for the stock I am making so I have free reign on its design, another concern is mounting it to the stock, I have a few idea's but open to others

I would like to make something with an adjustable palm shelf if I can manage it

I really like the Steyr LG100/110 grip and the way it attaches to the action. It can have a palm shelf, be tilted, twisted and moved front and back slightly as well. I do not have the palm shelf on mine.

If I had an extra grip I would let you borrow it, but it is very tough to shoot without the grip on the rifle. You can check it out and take measurements, etc at the next Burlington match on May 18th, if you make it there.

I have seen a custom alu-stock, (can't recall the manufacturer off-hand though), that used a ball mounted pistol grip - the ball was mounted to a short stem from the underside of the stock, and the top of the grip had a split ball-socket inletted into it. Allowed for near infinite adjustment of the grip in any direction. IIRC, the stem was also mounted within a short rail to allow for fore and aft movement of the entire grip.

As for the carving - a pneumatic die grinder with an aggressive 1/2" diameter carbide ball cutter makes short work of the job of roughing the grip out.
Once the dimensions start getting close, A Dremel or similar unit, with a less aggressive cutter will allow you to finesse the final fit.